Skyfall screenwriter, John Logan, addresses James Bond’s ‘gay past’

Daniel Craig has now played James Bond in three films (Image: Wikipedia, Elen Nivrae)

The screenwriter of the latest James Bond film, Skyfall, has addressed the suggested homoerotic subtext of certain scenes in the blockbuster.

Speculation over what has been described as an “erotically charged scene” in which actor Javier Bardem’s character Silva apparently caresses the torso of James Bond has sparked heavy excitement among some.

John Logan, who has been tipped as the writer of the next two Bond films, discussed the scene, saying that he talked to director Sam Mendes, who agreed that they should include it:

“Some people claim it’s because I’m, in fact, gay but it’s not true at all,” he said. “Sam [Mendes] and I were discussing, there were so many scenes where Bond goes mano-a-mano with the villain, whether it’s Dr No or Goldfinger or whatever.

“There’s been so many ways to do a cat-and-mouse and intimidate Bond, and we thought, what would truly make the audience uncomfortable is sexual intimidation; playing the sort of homoerotic card that is sort of always there subtextually with characters like Scaramanga in Man with the Golden Gun or Dr No.

“So we just decided that we should play the card and enjoy it.”

James Bond actor Daniel Craig, also addressed the scene between Bond and agent-turned-villain Raoul Silva, played by Javier Bardem, in which the villain unbuttons Bond’s shirt, and makes a sexually-suggestive comment, to which Bond replies: “What makes you think this is my first time?”